Includes bibliographical references (pages 382-388) and index

Prologue: On finitude and infinity -- Introduction: The nature of immortality -- Belief : We bereave, we believe ; Journey into remoteness ; The valley of astonishment ; Lessons of the teachings ; To sea and hear ; Beneath the gaze of eternity ; Technical interlude: writ in water ; The magical fountain ; Letters upon letters : dividing the invisible ; Almost real ; Let's run into the waves and spring back to life -- Magic : Mystifier ; Escapology ; The sorcerer's lair ; Sleights of mind ; Technical interlude: magick, Eros, symbolism ; Transmuting magic into science -- Science : Mercurial times ; Preservation's particulars: longevity and longing ; Biological calculus ; It was the future ; Refrigerator heaven ; Secret Santa Barbara ; The Harvard Symposium -- If _____ is possible -- Epilogue: Springs eternal

Journalist Adam Leith Gollner weaves together religion, science, and mythology in an exploration of the most universal of human obsessions: immortality. Raised without religion, Gollner was struck by mankind's tireless efforts to cheat aging and death. In a narrative that pivots between profundity and hilarity, he brings us into the world of those whose lives are shaped by a belief in immortality. Combining immersive reporting, rigorous research, and lyrical prose, he charts the rise of longevity science from its alchemical beginnings to modern-day genetic interventions, and delves into the symbolic representation of eternal life and its connection to water. Interlaced throughout is a meditation on the nature of belief, showing how every story we tell about immortality is a story about the meaning of death.--From publisher description

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